Conventionally, wireless data communication via a relay device has been achieved between a mobile terminal and a server device. An example known wireless communication scheme is the wireless LAN scheme specified by IEEE 802.11.
In the above conventional wireless LAN scheme, however, if a large number of mobile terminals are in an area which allows wireless communication with a relay device, a plurality of mobile terminals would simultaneously request the relay device to provide wireless connection. In this case, lack of resources for wireless connection may occur in the relay device, resulting in a trouble in data communication between mobile terminals and the server device.
Therefore, the present exemplary embodiment has been made in view of the above problem. It is an object of the present exemplary embodiment to provide an information processing device, server device, data communication system, data communication method, and data communication program which are used to reduce the processing load of a relay device, thereby achieving smooth data communication.
To achieve the object, an information processing device according to an aspect of the present exemplary embodiment is for transmitting and receiving data to and from a server device via a relay device by wireless communication. The information processing device includes an identification information storage unit configured to store terminal identification information for identifying the information processing device, a signal receiver configured to receive a broadcast signal containing at least one piece of identification information transmitted from the server device via the relay device, a determiner configured to determine whether or not any of the at least one piece of identification information contained in the signal received by the signal receiver corresponds to the terminal identification information, a connection requester configured to, when the determiner determines that one of the at least one piece of identification information corresponds to the terminal identification information, request a wireless connection to the relay device, and a data communicator configured to transmit or receive data to or from the server device via the relay device by wireless communication.
A server device according to another aspect of the present exemplary embodiment is for transmitting and receiving data to and from an information processing device or devices via a relay device by wireless communication. The server device includes an identification information storage unit configured to store at least one piece of terminal identification information for identifying the information processing device or devices, a signal transmitter configured to transmit, via the relay device, a broadcast signal containing, at least, at least one piece of identification information extracted from the at least one piece of terminal identification information, and a data communicator configured to transmit or receive data to or from the information processing device or devices via the relay device by wireless communication.
A data communication system according to another aspect of the present exemplary embodiment is one in which data is transmitted and received between a server device and an information processing device or devices via a relay device by wireless communication. In the data communication system, each of the information processing device or devices includes an identification information storage unit configured to store terminal identification information for identifying the each of the information processing device or devices, a signal receiver configured to receive a broadcast signal containing at least one piece of identification information transmitted from the server device via the relay device, a determiner configured to determine whether or not any of the at least one piece of identification information contained in the signal received by the signal receiver corresponds to the terminal identification information, a connection requester configured to, when the determiner determines that one of the at least one piece of identification information corresponds to the terminal identification information, request a wireless connection to the relay device, and a data communicator configured to transmit or receive data to or from the server device via the relay device by wireless communication. The server device includes an identification information storage unit configured to store at least one piece of terminal identification information for identifying the information processing device or devices, a signal transmitter configured to transmit, via the relay device, a broadcast signal containing, at least, at least one piece of identification information extracted from the at least one piece of terminal identification information, and a data communicator configured to transmit or receive data to or from the information processing device or devices via the relay device by wireless communication.
A data communication method according to another aspect of the present exemplary embodiment is for transmitting and receiving data between a server device and an information processing device or devices via a relay device by wireless communication. The data communication method includes a signal transmission step of causing the server device to transmit a broadcast signal containing, at least, at least one piece of identification information extracted from at least one piece of previously stored terminal identification information for identifying the information processing device or devices, via the relay device, a signal reception step of causing the information processing device or devices to receive the signal from the server device via the relay device, a determination step of causing each of the information processing device or devices to determine whether or not any of the at least one piece of identification information contained in the signal received in the signal reception step corresponds to the previously stored terminal identification information for identifying the each of the information processing device or devices, a connection request step of causing each of the information processing device or devices to, when the determination step determines that one of the at least one piece of identification information corresponds to the previously stored terminal identification information for identifying the each of the information processing device or devices, request a wireless connection to the relay device, and a data communication step of causing the information processing device or devices and the server device to transmit or receive data via the relay device by wireless communication.
A data communication program according to another aspect of the present exemplary embodiment is for transmitting and receiving data to and from a server device via a relay device by wireless communication. The data communication program causes a computer to execute receiving a broadcast signal containing at least one piece of identification information transmitted from the server device via the relay device, determining whether or not any of the at least one piece of identification information contained in the received signal corresponds to previously stored terminal identification information for identifying an information processing device, requesting a wireless connection to the relay device when it is determined that one of the at least one piece of identification information corresponds to the previously stored terminal identification information for identifying the information processing device, and transmitting or receiving data to or from the server device via the relay device by wireless communication.
A data communication program according to another aspect of the present exemplary embodiment is for transmitting and receiving data to and from an information processing device via a relay device by wireless communication. The data communication program causes a computer to execute transmitting a broadcast signal containing, at least, at least one piece of identification information extracted from at least one of previously stored terminal identification information for identifying an information processing device or devices, and transmitting or receiving data to or from the information processing device or devices via the relay device by wireless communication.
According to the above aspects of the present exemplary embodiment, the server device transmits a broadcast signal containing at least one piece of identification information extracted from a plurality of pieces of previously stored terminal identification information. After receiving the signal, an information processing device, when one of the at least one piece of identification information contained in the signal corresponds to the previously stored terminal identification information, requests a wireless connection to the relay device, and transmits or receives data to the server device via the relay device. As a result, data communication is executed with information processing devices (the other end of communication) the number of which is limited by the server device. Therefore, the processing load of the relay device is reduced, whereby lack of resources for wireless connection is prevented, resulting in smooth data communication between the server device and the information processing devices.
In the above information processing device of the aspect, the signal receiver preferably receives the signal in a state before an authentication procedure and a connection procedure are executed between the information processing device and the relay device. In this case, the signal can be received from the relay device without execution of the authentication and the association between the relay device and the information processing device, and therefore, lack of resources in the relay device can be reliably prevented.
The signal receiver preferably receives the signal in a synchronization scheme. In this case, information, such as the identification information etc., can be efficiently read from the signal received from the relay device without execution of the authentication and the association between the relay device and the information processing device.
The signal receiver preferably receives the signal containing a command to request a wireless connection to the relay device, and the connection requester preferably requests the wireless connection when the signal contains the command. With this configuration, data communication between the server device and the information processing device can be flexibly controlled.
The data communicator preferably uploads data to the server device via the relay device. The data communicator preferably downloads data from the server device via the relay device. In this case, data communication between the server device and the information processing device can be controlled in a specific communication direction.
The signal receiver preferably receives a plurality of pieces of the identification information, and the determiner preferably determines whether or not any of the plurality of pieces of identification information corresponds to the terminal identification information. In this case, a plurality of the information processing devices can be provided for which a wireless connection to the relay device is established.
The terminal identification information is preferably used to identify a specific information processing device. In this case, the number of the information processing devices for which a wireless connection to the relay device is established can be finely limited.
In the above server device of the aspect, the signal transmitter preferably repeatedly transmits the signal containing the at least one piece of identification information successively updated based on a transmission/reception state of the data between the server device and the information processing device or devices. In this case, data communication between the server device and the information processing device or devices can be reliably completed.
The server device preferably further includes a communication state storage unit configured to manage communication state information indicating the data transmission/reception state between the server device and the information processing device or devices, in association with the terminal identification information, and an identification information extractor configured to extract at least one piece of identification information from the at least one piece of terminal identification information stored in the identification information storage unit, based on the communication state information. The signal transmitter preferably transmits a signal containing the at least one piece of identification information extracted by the identification information extractor. With this configuration, data communication between the server device and a plurality of the information processing devices can be reliably completed while the processing load of the relay device is reduced.
According to the present exemplary embodiment, the processing load of the relay device is reduced, resulting in smooth data communication.
These and other objects, features, aspects and advantages of the present exemplary embodiment will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present exemplary embodiment when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.